Private road wars and speed bumps

[mikehaugen]

It's not so simple. First, this is not a case where the easement goes through one tract. This is more like any county road where many pcs of property lie on both sides of the road. Property lines go to the center of road. So not owned by one individual. Not that it would really mater if one person owned two tracts on opposite sides of the road. In the state of Indiana, we own to the middle of the road but can't make road alterations.

I was referring to lockhaven's question about parking lots.

 

[dave1949]

you can trust me on this one: with more and more homes being built and less land available, more homes are having drives shared or going thru right next to someone elses property. Sooner or later the gubermint will start billing and taking over these private driveways if we continue to bicker and not get along over silly things. All it takes is a life to be taken away to move a person into a overzealous renegade pushing for bills to be passed into laws for driveways.

<snip> .

Maybe, but the hurdle is many private roads are not built to the standards that are required for public roads. If it is even possible to do, the amount of money to upgrade the road to bring it to the standard a town would accept taking over is beyond what the residents can afford or are willing to pay.

The towns around here want no part of "owning" new roads or taking over existing private roads. They will decommission an old unused road if they can. Most don't operate public utilities like water, sewer, electric, trash--so they don't need the road to provide and maintain those services. How or if you get electric to your home is up to you and the utility.

The quibble I have is I don't think property taxes really reflect the difference between town road and private road. Maybe I'm wrong about that, but if the attitude is "we don't want to buy and maintain a road for your new house," then private road home owners shouldn't be paying taxes to maintain existing residential town roads either.

Speeding through neighborhoods happens on public streets too. The speeders could be strangers, not someone sharing a road ownership. On a public road, you might get help from the local police--if you have any. Someone blocking a public road in some way that would prevent Fire and Rescue access would get attention.

 

[GolfAddict]

Ok, note to self: Don't by a house on a shared dirt/gravel road.

No kidding!!

 

[JRobyn]

We have a "common use access easement" road between our land and the adjacent neighbors. 10ft on either side of the property line. We are at the very end, along with my in-laws. The adjacent property is empty, unimproved land owned by local but absentee owners. I have gone out of my way to inform them of anything we do involving the easement, and they have reciprocated by being very understanding and cooperative. So we have no trouble all! My FIL and I share the limited maintenance chores, mostly just pothole filling. It's a good solid-base gravel road. Since the absentee owners don't really use it, they won't contribute to maintenance costs, which is OK with me. I did put up a gate and electric operator all the way out at the main road. I programmed in access codes for all of them in the operator keypad (plus fire/police/EMT).

- Jay

 

[dodge man]

Shared driveways and roadways, what a nightmare! As a land surveyor I've been involved in a couple of problems with neighbors and shared driveways. To the OP, the best solution would be to get the local government take the road over. This may be a simple process, but I doubt it. Everyone would probably have to agree and dedicate their portion of the roadway. You might also have to upgrade the road to meet some standards before they would take it over, but once the road is maintained by the government a lot of the problems will go away.

 

[jaotguy]

but once the road is maintained by the government a lot of the problems will go away.

till the "bump" neighbors petition to have the speed limit reduced to 15 MPH ( because of the kids ) and have the "bumps" re-installed to enforce it .... something about the squeaky wheel ? ....

agree, best to have a talk with the EMT, Police and FD ... have them send a letter to all the owners that they will not respond if there are "hazards" in the road that might damage the equipment....


In Ottawa , the powers that be decided to put in traffic calming measures ( narrowed street intersections, speed bumps and bump outs from the curbs to limit parking ) because of "safety concerns for children and to slow down the traffic " ...
the fire department notified the city they would not respond to any calls on the modified streets , they were too narrow for the trucks (tipping hazard) and the speed bumps damaged the suspension on the trucks ( when filled with water ) ... the city had to remove the "measures" after spending the money ... good money after bad .
and all because someone petitioned the council to "slow down" the traffic ....

the latest idiot idea has them putting rubber signs in the middle of the road ( on the center line) telling people to slow down .....:confused3:

 

[riptides]

Ok, note to self: Don't by a house on a shared dirt/gravel road.

Shared roads. Easements in general are always an issue.

 

[oldpilgrim]

I built a house about half way down a 3 mile long dirt road. The dozen or so residents on the road, which the town maintained, but poorly, petitioned the town to pave it.

The town stated that even though the road was a town owned road and agreed that the town has been maintaining it since about 1800 or even before, they couldn't pave it as they couldn't find any record of the section of the road in front of my property being town owned. All maps showed the road ending at either side of my property. Somewhere along the way, the road apparently just stopped at my property from both directions but someone opened up the 800 foot stretch and connected the two halves...the town, a previous owner, no one knew.

The town says we can't do anything until we can find records showing the boundaries of my property to the road.

I told them that was ok with me since now they couldn't prove the the road didn't belong to me, I would put up a toll gate and collect tolls from anyone who wished to use the road.

Within a few weeks, the town announced they would be paving the road...which they did. How they got around the ownership issue, I still don't know.

 

[RobertN]

We have something similar. Our neighborhood has a Road Assoc that takes care of the two primary roads. We have a board, yearly metting, yearly dues which are used for road maintenance. If you want speed bunmps, they have to voted in. Or out. Road Assoc only takes care of the roads, nothing else(it is not an HOA).

Unfortunately, we had speed bumps thre wwhen we moved in. Wife and I HATE them, but they were there when we moved in; we knew about them. Over the years, one was removed as part of a tearout and repair of the road.

Ours are suppossed to be 15mph bumps(one of our ould naeighbors was road engineer). My car soaks them up like they are not there, but the truck... I have followed when my wife had seperate errand in truck. going 10-15mph, there rear tires bounce in the air...!

Years ago, the Assoc decided on 15mph signs. I never go that slow. 25mph is general speed limit in residentail area's; I go 25.

Even with the speed bumps, many go much faster. Interestingly, it is a couple of the younger drivers, but mostly the ladies who live in the neighborhood.

Speed bumps just suck. And only seem to slow down the ones who would go slow anyways. They really suck for our neighbors who tow horse/horse trailers...

I still volunteer on the local fire department. Speed bumps really stink when you are on a fire engine, medic, water tender... Especially responding to an emergency.

We have private Road Associations in Maine. They have good support under state law and are common.

The private road I lived on was not an easement, it was not included in anyone's property. The deeds said all who owned land (home built on it or not) accessed by the road had an equal interest in the road. Our Road Association dealt with upkeep and snow plowing. We had an annual meeting to discuss any issues and set the budget that was hosted by someone on the road with potluck snacks.

Maybe there is something similar in IN.

 

[Country Geek]

I've lived for 15 years in my large lot rural subdivision with fewer than 20 owners with a private dirt road that's actually an easement, everyone owns to the center of the road. We have a road maintenance agreement that the developer drafted that's attached as a covenant to all the deeds that spells out the obligations of the landowners and the process for doing things like maintenance, modifications, upgrades, etc. This is separate from the HOA (which is very minimal) but we manage both together just because it's easier and we agreed to do so. Early on we looked into having the county take it over but not surprisingly they said "no thanks." Personally I prefer the road to stay private and don't mind paying the annual nut for maintenance.

There have been disputes and arguments over the years of course. Ranging from a faction that wanted to pave the road vs. those who don't want the expense, and the people who don't pay (usually people who are selling or about to sell) or claim they shouldn't have to because they only have 30 feet of road front (flag lots) without remembering the 1/2 mile they drive down to access their 30 feet.

Personally I try to keep the business aspects of the neighborhood separate from the personal, but not everyone can do that. Our road maintenance agreement requires unanimous consent for upgrades or modifications (which I assume would include speed bumps, no one has tried that yet) and I blocked one of them which made some neighbors mad but over time we all got over it. It helps that turnover in the neighborhood is low so we all know we'll have to live with each other for many years to come. Having a formal road maintenance agreement helps too.